John Mogensen Movie Smashes Danish Box Office
He died in 1977, but the Danes still love John Mogensen, and Ole Bornedal’s dramatic, humorous and poetic journey through his life with Så længe jeg lever (As Long As I Live) is proving to be a box office sensation.
The film follows the success and failure of musician John Mogensen (Rasmus Bjerg) throughout his life as an artist, husband and father – from childhood, through his time with Four Jacks and his later impact as a solo artist, until his untimely death.
Since its premiere on Thursday, As Long As I Live has has sold 91,500 tickets, making it the best opening weekend for a Danish drama feature since The Hunt in 2013, and is Ole Bornedal’s best opening weekend yet. Moreover, it is the highest grossing Danish film overall since the 2016 comedy Reunion 3 (Klassefesten 3).
Frederik Honore, Director of Nordisk Film, says: “It’s a great start for As Long As I Live. Our indications are that it gets good word-of-mouth, so there is good reason to be optimistic. It’s too early to predict yet, but it’s not unrealistic to say that Ole Bornedal could beat his own greatest cinema success Nightwatch.” (465,000 tickets sold in 1994)
TRAILER: